Desmond Nicholson

Desmond Nicholson, who has died aged 80, was a key figure in establishing Antigua as a tourist attraction and yachting centre, as well as in the restoration of its once vital naval base, English Harbour. He also founded the island's historical and archaeological society, and its museum, and wrote a dozen books on Antiguan history.

The older son of a wartime naval commander from Cork, Nicholson was 24 when his father decided to start a new life in New Zealand in 1948. They crossed the Atlantic in the Mollihawk, a 70ft schooner built in 1903, and docked at English Harbour, then a derelict wharf. Captivated by the place, the Nicholsons abandoned their New Zealand plans and set to repairing the crumbling buildings from where Nelson once dominated the Caribbean and the Atlantic. They squatted in the re-roofed commissioner's room and paymaster's house.

During that first year, a wealthy American asked the Nicholsons to take his family sailing on the Mollihawk. The event launched what became a yachting and tourism industry that was to transform an island suffering badly from the decline of the sugar trade. The Nicholsons advertised in the US and British media, and yachtsmen began arriving to share charter deals. By the early 1960s, more than 100 ocean-going yachts were berthed at English Harbour, or at nearby Falmouth Harbour.

With his brother Rodney and their wives, Desmond Nicholson continued to expand the business, opening Antigua's first travel agency and restoring Nelson's Dockyard as a tourist attraction. He spearheaded the annual Antigua Sailing Week, now one of the world's top three regattas.

Nicholson was born in Southsea, Hampshire and spent his childhood mostly in Kent, and later Bermuda, where his father was based in wartime. He served in the Royal Corps of Signals (1946-48) and was the army's high jump champion in 1946. His father, Nicholson wrote in a memoir, had always wanted to return to the West Indies "because of the constant trade winds. He said it was possible to get to cocktail parties on time on any island."

After retiring in the late 1980s, Nicholson concentrated on history and archaeology. He wrote a dozen books, including The Story of English Harbour, which describes the building of the naval base in the early 18th century and how Nelson commanded its squadron of the Leeward Islands from there. His book Arawaks in Antigua and Barbuda tells the story of the original inhabitants of Antigua, the Arawak Indians. He is survived by his wife Lisa, his children, his grandchildren and his brother.

· Desmond Vernon Nicholson, yachtsman and historian, born July 9 1925; died January 24 2006